


I Got You

by LibbyWrites



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [5]
Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Cats, Drabble, Firefighter Liam, Hero Complex, M/M, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 11:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10189055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibbyWrites/pseuds/LibbyWrites
Summary: Maybe Zayn should stop putting himself in danger all the time to save others. Or maybe not.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I decided to upload all my Tumblr drabbles on AO3 to have them all together in one place.
> 
> This is Drabble #05, requested by the love of my literary life, [Marea](http://marea707.tumblr.com/). The prompt was "I don’t know how you get yourself into these situations," and it had to be used as an opening sentence.
> 
> [Here](http://elerinwen.tumblr.com/post/150086631930/y-ziam-para-el-segundo-8-i-dont-know-how-you) is the original Tumblr post in case you want to check it out and [here](http://elerinwen.tumblr.com/ask) is my ask box in case you want to request something. (My prompt lists are over [here](http://elerinwen.tumblr.com/tagged/prompts)).
> 
> Thanks for reading and please leave comments or kudos if you liked it!

“I don’t know how you get yourself into these situations…” Liam sighed. He should be annoyed, he knew that. He just couldn’t.

In a way he couldn’t blame the guy. He knew this tree, it was the biggest one in the local park. His mom almost had a heart attack that time he tried climbing it once, back when he was ten. Its branches were wide enough to support the weight of a person, but they were tall and far apart from each other. A fall from up there could prove fatal.

When he arrived at the scene, looking up at the same tree, he couldn’t believe what he saw. There was this guy up there. He was sitting on one of the widest branches, holding on for dear life to a smaller branch with one arm, and holding a tiny black kitten with the other. He was dressed in skinny black jeans and a leather jacket, which made his terrified expression even more endearing.

Liam would have been terribly annoyed about having to climb a ladder at this ungodly hour right when his shift was about to end, just to save a man that climbed a stupidly high tree for who knows what reason. He should. The thing is he knew this man. Or, well, he didn’t really “know” him, he just… He found himself rescuing him way too often lately. He knew his name was Zayn. He knew he worked at the local library. He knew he had the longest eyelashes he’d ever seen. He knew his accent did things to his entire existence. He knew he had a knack for risking his life for things like puppies and birds and old ladies and apparently kittens too.

Liam had watched him carefully from the ground, smiling to himself despite the situation. God, he was actually eager to climb that ladder and play knight in shining armor. When his colleagues finally placed the ladder in the right spot, he climbed it with a smirk on his face. It took him a few seconds to get there, and when he did, he decided it was best to ignore the sniggers and the laughs he heard from his work mates down below. The idiots. Acknowledging them would only make Zayn more nervous than he was.

He just sighed, smiling at Zayn, marveled at Zayn’s ability to find himself in enough trouble to call the fire department again and again. He climbed the last few rungs slowly, assessing the situation. The little thing seemed to be comfy enough in Zayn’s arms. Zayn looked terrified. Fuck.

As soon as Liam spoke, Zayn rolled his eyes so adorably Liam just had to bite his lip to keep himself from screaming. How did he still find time to act all nonchalant even when he was panicking? “I heard him meow when I was walking by, Lieutenant Payne. He couldn’t get down, I just… I couldn’t just leave him, okay?” The way he adamantly defended his actions while looking so terrified was way too sweet. “He was sitting on a lower branch, I thought it would be easy, but when he saw me he just kept climbing, and…”

Liam laughed, shaking his head. “Hey, it’s okay, I understand. Of course you couldn’t leave him,” he smiled, carefully reaching towards Zayn’s chest to scratch behind the kitten’s ear in an attempt to distract him from his fear. “You just didn’t take into consideration the possibility of you not being able to get down from the tree either, did you?” he asked, smiling, drawing his hand back before he made the mistake of touching Zayn. Not the time, Liam, not the time.

“I didn’t, I just… I’m sorry? Can you take me down now, please?” Zayn pleaded, the pained look on his face finally making Liam’s hero complex kick in, forcing him to stop acting like an infatuated idiot just because the most beautiful man in the world needed his help.

“Yeah, okay, just let me…” he moved and positioned his body to climb down the ladder. “Okay, now give me the kitten,” he asked, reaching out with his hand, palm up.

“No, he might fall…” Zayn complained, holding it tighter to his chest, looking almost offended.

Liam chuckled, asking again. “You’re gonna need both hands to climb down the ladder. I’ll put him here in my pocket, okay? He fits. He’s gonna be okay,” Liam promised, pointing to said pocket. Zayn looked skeptical, but he finally handed over the kitten. Liam grabbed him very carefully and put him inside one of his uniform’s side pockets. They were big enough to fit big ass tools, they could certainly fit a tiny kitten.

“Okay, now climb down after me, yeah? Nice and slow…” Liam used one hand to grab the ladder and the other he wrapped around Zayn’s body, holding him as firmly as he could to keep him from falling while he positioned himself. “Good. I’m right here. Don’t look down,” Liam reminded him.

He could feel Zayn’s body shake against his hand. He was truly scared, fuck. Weirdly enough, this wasn’t the first time he had to rescue him from a high place (not as high as this tree, though), and at this point Liam had figured out he was kind of afraid of heights. Which made the fact that he just climbed a tall tree to rescue a kitten even more heroic and amazing.

Zayn followed Liam’s backward movement slowly, step by step, holding the ladder so hard his knuckles went white. Liam tried to think of ways to calm him down, and did the best he could. He opened his hand wider on Zayn’s stomach, rubbing his thumb against him, not even knowing if Zayn would feel it through the fabric of his t-shirt. “It’s okay, I got you, Zayn. You’re gonna be fine, I got you…” He whispered as softly as he could, knowing he wasn’t that close to Zayn’s ear. He still did it, and kept doing it until they finally reached the ground.

For a moment, Zayn didn’t move. He simply stood there, gripping the ladder, breathing hard. Maybe Liam should’ve given him a moment to recover, to deal with his fear and get it under control. He just couldn’t bring himself to walk away. He stood there, arm still around Zayn, hand still open over his stomach, lips still whispering soft comforting words.

It took Zayn a moment to finally relax. Or melt, actually, because he basically sagged into Liam’s arms, letting go of the ladder, the adrenaline finally leaving his body. “Hey, it’s okay… I got you…” Liam repeated, wrapping his arms around Zayn’s body, putting his other hand over his heart, feeling the beating of his heart slowly calming down. Zayn didn’t even complain, he just turned around and stayed in Liam’s arms for a moment, laying his head on his shoulder, wrapping his arms around Liam, his breathing the only loud thing in the silence of the night. The rest of Liam’s team probably left them alone on purpose. Liam kinda loved them for that.

“You okay?” Liam asked, trying to find the strength to let go of Zayn and act professional and failing miserably. It was hard. He had the strongest crush on this guy since the first time he saw him, knee deep in dirty sewer water, helping a dog that had fallen down an open manhole on the street. He thought he would never see him again but for one reason or another he kept calling the fire department, at least once a month, always in trouble for helping others. Zayn was beautiful and adorable and a good person and Liam was so gone it was ridiculous.

So yeah, he stayed right where he was, with Zayn wrapped tightly in his arms, until Zayn lifted his head from his shoulder to look at him. “How do you know my name?” he asked, and Liam gulped. Dammit. He wasn’t supposed to know that.

“I… um…” he tried to find some clarity to explain himself, which was pretty hard considering Zayn refused to let go of him. “I… might have asked your friend? The one that was with you that day you were helping that old lady?” It was the truth. He wasn’t about to confess the real reason why he asked. Zayn only asked about the how, not the why.

“Oh…” was Zayn’s response, his mouth a pretty O, his brow furrowed. At least he didn’t seem angry? He looked… surprised. Maybe in a good way? Now Liam was the terrified one.

When no complaint came, when Liam realized Zayn was smiling instead of grilling him for being so nosy, Liam decided to keep going. Do anything to put Zayn’s mind at ease. “I’m Liam, yeah?” Liam introduced himself for the first time. He was okay with Zayn having read his title and last name from his uniform; he even liked the way it sounded on Zayn’s lips, but it was only fair, right? He knew Zayn’s name. Zayn had a right to know his.

Zayn smiled a beautiful smile, knocking the air right out of Liam’s lungs. “Thank you for rescuing me, Liam,” he said in a low tone. “Sorry for being so annoying.”

Liam shook his head, surprised. “Oh no, you’re not annoying. It’s my job, isn’t it?” he asked, earning another bashful smile. “Maybe the rest of the guys are a bit annoyed but they’re lazy idiots, don’t worry about them.”

That made Zayn stop smiling. “Oh my god, they must hate me…” he mumbled, looking down, finally letting go of Liam.

He didn’t go far, though, because Liam grabbed his hand following a very idiotic impulse that was probably going to get him kicked in the balls, or make Zayn run away. Or not, because Zayn stopped moving, surrendering to Liam, undoing his backward steps to end up so close to Liam he could count his eyelashes. “Hey…” Liam called him, using two fingers to tilts Zayn’s head up again, trying to make him look at him. Liam smiled as soon as he found those amber eyes again. “What about I give you my number?” he asked, not thinking about the way those words could be taken until he saw Zayn’s eyes go wide. “I mean, so you can call me instead of the fire station? So the guys don’t have to come too?” It was a good reason. A valid reason. He wanted to scream thinking about his number on Zayn’s phone, thinking about Zayn wanting to call him for more than just help, as crazy as that sounded.

Apparently Zayn was okay with that, because he smiled, wide, the biggest, most beautiful smile Liam had seen on those lips since the first time they met, and he gave another step forward, closer to Liam. “I would really like that…” he answered, one hand moving up to land on Liam’s chest, making it feel like exploding.

“Me too…” Liam whispered, not thinking, giving another step forward until they were chest to chest again. Zayn licked his lips and Liam’s eyes dropped to look at them, and just when he was about to move, to give in to Zayn’s invitation, a tiny meow coming from his pocket broke the silence, interrupting them. Liam laughed, biting his lip. He decided he never met anyone as sweet and special as Zayn as he watched him slip his free hand inside Liam’s uniform pocket to pet the kitten, at the same time that their lips met.


End file.
